Meet the philosopher inside Google DeepMind
Meet the philosopher inside Google DeepMind

What does a company that builds game-playing AI need with a philosopher? That question sits at the heart of a Guardian long-read on Iason Gabriel, who has worked inside Google DeepMind since 2017. For a time, the Guardian reports, Gabriel was the only …

Google DeepMind launched an AI biosecurity programme to fight biological threats
Google DeepMind launched an AI biosecurity programme to fight biological threats

Google DeepMind has launched a programme to turn AI on biological threats. The London lab and its sister company Isomorphic Labs call it bioresilience, and set it out in a joint blog post. The aim is twofold. DeepMind wants to stop people misusing its …

French startup Syntetica raised $30M to recycle the nylon fashion throws away
French startup Syntetica raised $30M to recycle the nylon fashion throws away

A French startup has raised $30 million to tackle one of fashion’s hardest waste problems. Syntetica recycles nylon, and it can process two grades at once that the industry has long struggled to pull apart, its founder told TechCrunch. The Ecotechnolog…

Google’s record EU fine won’t just punish Google. It will quietly shrink what European taxpayers owe Brussels.
Google’s record EU fine won’t just punish Google. It will quietly shrink what European taxpayers owe Brussels.

Google has finally paid its record EU antitrust fine, and the money is about to do something unexpected. The €4.6bn will flow into the EU’s central budget and reduce what member states owe Brussels, Politico reports. The mechanism is dry, but the effec…

The EU is forcing Google to open Android to rival AI and share its search data
The EU is forcing Google to open Android to rival AI and share its search data

Google will have to let rival AI assistants run on Android the way its own Gemini does. It must also hand some of its search data to competitors. The European Commission set out both requirements on Thursday. The two decisions fall under the EU’s Digit…

Xpeng’s new L03 undercuts Tesla Model Y by up to $10,000 in Europe
Xpeng’s new L03 undercuts Tesla Model Y by up to $10,000 in Europe

Xpeng launched its new L03 electric SUV-coupe in Europe this week with a starting price of €34,990 — undercutting the Tesla Model Y by roughly €3,400 in Germany and by around $10,000 in Norway.
The pricing puts a well-equipped 4.65-meter electric SUV d…

29 countries sign a treaty to establish the World AI Cooperation Organization
29 countries sign a treaty to establish the World AI Cooperation Organization

Twenty-nine countries signed an agreement on 16 July to establish the World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO), Reuters reported. China says the intergovernmental body aims to promote international cooperation and global governance in AI. China’s fore…

SWISSto12 raised $70M, and it is that rare thing: a profitable space startup
SWISSto12 raised $70M, and it is that rare thing: a profitable space startup

Most space-hardware startups raise money because they are burning it. SWISSto12 raised $70m while turning a profit, an unusual thing in the satellite business. The Swiss company closed the €61m round days after ESA member states put $84.8m into its Hum…

XPeng L03 ships Google Maps Auto SDK — a first for an APAC automaker
XPeng L03 ships Google Maps Auto SDK — a first for an APAC automaker

XPeng used the global launch of its new L03 in Munich to announce that the electric SUV coupe is the first vehicle from any Asia-Pacific automaker to ship with Google Maps’ Auto SDK built in.
The integration replaces XPeng’s overseas navigation stack w…

CATL’s 30-year sodium-ion battery takes over grid storage
CATL’s 30-year sodium-ion battery takes over grid storage

CATL has signed a memorandum of understanding with Dutch energy company Alfen to deploy 5 GWh of its Tener Sodium energy storage systems across Europe, one of the largest sodium-ion commitments the region has seen.
The batteries are rated for 15,000 cy…